This just in from someone in the media office at the University of Texas:

Last week’s blog posting by Rod Dreher contained information that was not accurate and that was drawn from a media report which has since been clarified by the publication.

There is no formal investigation into Dr. Regnerus’ work. Rather, there is an inquiry — any and all allegations of scientific misconduct against a faculty member automatically trigger such an inquiry, which is a preliminary fact finding exercise led by the Vice President for Research’s office. This is standard operating procedure.  The purpose of the inquiry is to determine whether the allegations have merit and warrant a full investigation. Nearly 30 complaints of scientific misconduct have automatically triggered an inquiry over the past 15 years — very few have led to investigations. An inquiry implies no wrongdoing. It merely confirms that we received a complaint and take all complaints seriously.

Mr. Dreher asks “How is it that a blogger can write a letter to the president of the university lodging a very serious, potentially career-destroying professional complaint against a professor, and the university can turn around and effectively put the professor on trial?”

The answer, quite simply is “he can’t.”